


You And Me And The Night

by StellarLibraryLady



Series: Eddie And Vee [9]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: "Sincerely" (1954), Anilingus, Beaches, Bickering, Coast Guard, Consensual, Consensual Sex, Dancing, Explicit Language, Flying, Language, M/M, Oogie Details, Rescue, Romantic Fluff, Seagulls - Freeform, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Dancing, Songfic, Tentacles, The McGuire Sisters (reference), magical happenings, song related
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:08:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26801944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StellarLibraryLady/pseuds/StellarLibraryLady
Summary: Eddie and Vee walk along one of the beaches they love and find the opportunity to do another activity that they love to do. And that isn't seagull watching, even though their feathered friends are constantly with them and waiting for treats. Hard telling what they might see Eddie and Venom doing on any given day, though. But it does not matter. The seagulls would never tell on them.What else could be as shockproof as those birds?Good thing. Because Eddie and Venom sometimes get kinda creative with their lovemaking out on the beach.And through it all, the seagulls watch.  And wait.
Relationships: Eddie Brock/Venom Symbiote
Series: Eddie And Vee [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1574260
Kudos: 20





	You And Me And The Night

**Author's Note:**

> World Migratory Bird Day was recently celebrated in Central and South America. And although seagulls don't migrate in the far-flung sweeping paths of their well-traveled feathered cousins, they are representing all birds in this fic.

No doubt about it, Eddie and Vee loved roaming the beaches around San Francisco. Eddie had always associated himself with the streets of the city, because that was where the stories he had written about his fellow man had originated. But since Venom had come into his life, Eddie had turned more and more into himself. For that was where Venom dwelled. Venom became Eddie's world. Maybe it was a good thing and maybe it was a bad thing. This turning into himself made Eddie more antisocial and mistrusting of his fellow man who seemed to exist to hurt Eddie. He didn't try as hard as perhaps he should have to make peace with mankind, because he had all of the companionship he ever needed nestled deep in himself next to his heart.

But it was actually a win-win situation for both of them. Eddie needed time to heal and to rebuild trust in others after the Carleton Drake affair. Vee needed time to gain strength and to learn about his new adopted world. They both needed time to fall deeper in love with each other, as if that was even possible. They were just so complete together.

And they came to have their own special things that they did together and for each other that every couple does. And for them, they were continually modifying proven activities and finding new ones. The exploring and the experimenting were keeping their relationship fresh while the proven oldies were always waiting in reserve when they just wanted to rest and to be together.

Cuddling was always top of their list, whether it was on Eddie's old couch in his apartment or somewhere behind a sand dune protected from the clawing wind or curious human eyes. Seagull eyes were another matter. There was no place safe to hide from their prying eyes on the beach. Those bastards were everywhere.

It was always so special when Venom pulled away from Eddie and appeared to him as a person of his own size. A person with feet on the ground and arms to hold him with and a neck to snuggle into when they danced. And dance they could, when Venom pulled away the way that Eddie liked.

But Venom only came out to please Eddie. He needed a living host to survive and just felt at home inside Eddie. A favorite thing to do, though, was to ride on Eddie’s shoulder and watch his new adopted world go by. But another favorite thing was to lie buried deeply inside Eddie and keep a close watch on the condition of his vital organs.

And although Venom would occasionally make the threat of snacking on one of those handy organs of Eddie’s, Venom would never do such a thing. Not now. Not saying, though, that he hadn’t when he had first been absorbed into Eddie’s body. But by that time Venom was ravenous from the haphazard diet he'd been receiving from the bodies of Carleton Drake’s “volunteers.” At the time he’d needed nourishment and hadn’t been picky about how he had gotten it or what it had been. Only later, when he knew that he wanted to protect Eddie, did he mend any damage that he had done to Eddie's organs. Now they were as essential to Venom as to Eddie for life.

“We can be so much bigger if we are together,” Venom reminded him. “When I am inside you, we can stand over seven feet tall and take on armies. We are invincible. We can pull planes out of the skies, not to mention those pesky seagulls with their evil agendas as they follow us on our walks." He eyed the ever-present birds in the sky above them. "I firmly believe that they would show us more respect if they knew that we were carnivores and preferred our meat to be fresh. And by fresh, I mean that the animals are still alive and mobile and capable of realizing just what a threat that we could be to them. All it would take for those birds to gain a healthy respect for us would be for me to pull a couple of those unsuspecting creatures out of the sky and devour them in front of their friends. And there would be no need to cook them. They are already body temperature. They would be so tasty."

Eddie thought about hot, steaming, yet smelly entrails and sharp toenails full of sand and who knew what else. "Doesn't sound too tasty to me."

"I do not know why not. We could eat those birds, as the expression goes, 'Guts, feathers, and all.' And it could be done as we are strolling along. It would be just like eating a walking taco. We could consider it to be the original trail food."

Eddie made a face of extreme distaste. Didn't sound like any sort of comfort food he'd want to eat. But to each his own, he guessed.

Venom, of course, noticed Eddie's reaction. He was very attuned to Eddie. How else could he be, being inside him the way he was and all.

"You look distressed, Eddie. Did you accidently swallow a bug?" Venom asked with concern. "If you wish, I can locate it in your stomach and send it on its way again back up your throat."

Allowing Venom to do something like that would probably have the same results as swallowing a raw oyster on a string and then pulling the string quickly back up his throat. Eddie flinched at just the thought of the snotty oyster retracing its journey up and out. Probably more than just the oyster would join it. Same as for any bug he'd accidently swallowed, too. Some things just shouldn't be retrieved.

"The bug is probably not quite dead yet," Venom continued. "It might be able to fully recover and fly away on its own again. Bugs can be quite resilient, despite their small size and fragile appearance. It will just take me a moment to check."

"No, thanks. That would just make me throw up, Vee. Going down would be bad enough. But then to have the thing fly out of me again would probably be more than my poor system could take. Besides, it was no bug. It was your assumption that we would eat a whole seagull. And I mean the whole seagull!"

Venom thought that over. "Earthlings are rather squeamish, aren't they? First no policemen and now no seagulls. So many rules!"

"It's the way we're hardwired since we live in a social group. We do things differently than our ancestors did who plucked whatever they could out of their environment and devoured it before it could eat them. Now when we're consuming any kind of bird at the dinner table, we tend to pass on the guts and feathers and consider them not eatable."

"You do? Really?"

"That's right," Eddie assured him, nodding his head in agreement. "It's just our way. Call us odd if you want. But we work bird carcasses over quite a bit before we serve them and eat them. It helps in the digestion of our food and makes us feel civilized."

"Hmm. It would not be as dramatic if I took the time to gut and singe the bird. And it would be so messy on the beach, too."

"There is that," Eddie agreed, hoping that Venom would give up his idea of dining on handy seagulls.

"This is too bad. If I grabbed a couple of passing birds and ate them, the message would pass between other members of the flock quickly enough that we were a threat. Then they would leave us alone.”

For some reason, that concept made Eddie feel sad and wistful. “But the beach would be so lonely, don’t you think? We are used to seeing them and they are used to seeing us out here now. They have accepted us.”

“Is that something that we were trying to gain from them? Acceptance? And why are we so concerned about what seagulls think about us? Are we planning on becoming members of a seagull flock? Is that what all of this acceptance of them is leading up to?”

“Hardly,” Eddie answered with a chuckle. “We’ve just got to live and let live, you know? It's a big beach. There’s room for all of us down here.”

“Do the seagulls know about that part? That we have a right to be here, too?” Venom wanted to know with skepticism.

Eddie smirked. “I doubt it.”

“Do they know that they are supposed to accept us? Or at least tolerate us? Sometimes I believe that they think our only purpose is to bring them popcorn and the remains of our seafood dinners.”

“At least we have a purpose. Which is kind of beautiful when you think about it, you know?” Eddie asked with a dreamy, wistful demeanor and a faraway look in his eyes. “We have a special cog on the wheel of life after all.”

“You are getting that look again,” Venom said with a note of concern in his voice.

“What look?” Eddie asked with that same dreamy, shit-eating look on his face that had Venom so alarmed.

“That look that says that you long to pull anchor and climb aboard any old tramp steamer that will be sailing you to exotic ports of call. Although I would not mind a sea cruise, I have serious doubts that you would care to live around the men who would be your fellow crewmen. And what you believe to be endless days of romance on the rolling waves might be monotonous days of inactivity and seasickness. And the crew might be terrible people who would want you to swab the ship's decks during the day and and swab their personal decks during the night.”

"That's a crude assessment."

"But a practical one. And probably truer than your starry-eyed dreams have led you to believe."

“You have no romance in your soul.”

“I have a lot of romance in my soul. For you. But not for a life on the Seven Seas.”

Eddie sighed. “I guess I’m stuck with a landlubber then.”

“I will always be willing to share the beach with you, Eddie," Venom lilted, trying to entice Eddie.

“I know you will.” He got a mischievous grin on his face. “So, you'll share the beach with me, eh? Seagulls and all?”

Venom sighed. “Yes. Seagulls and all. It is just that they do not have much personality and they would be so handy to snag out of the sky for a quick snack. Then we would not have to waste time going to the crab shack, and the world would be freed of one more ill-tempered seagull.”

“I gotta admit, you do put up a good argument for the elimination of seagulls.”

“Thank you,” Venom said happily, thinking he had finally persuaded Eddie away from protecting those hideous squawking Ms in the sky.

“I’m just saying that we don’t eat seagulls,” Eddie reminded him with indulgence and a gentle smile.

Venom sighed. Perhaps he had not persuaded Eddie after all.

But a part of Eddie knew that Venom really wouldn’t snag seagulls flying over them, even if they seemed to be using Eddie and Venom for a target range. Venom was used to the seagulls by now, because they were a part of the beach that he and Eddie loved so well. He would probably even protect them if someone tried to harm them.

That protection would probably come as a surprise to both Venom and the seagulls.

So Eddie and Venom spent a lot of their days walking up and down the beach with a fresh wind in their faces and the salty tang of the ocean advertising all of the romance to found on her choppy waves. And generally accompanied by their enemy/friends, the seagulls. It was better for Venom to be here than on city streets. There, too many curious eyes could see him. Here, he was mostly free to appear outside Eddie's body as much as he wanted.

Of course, they both had to compromise. Eddie could not have his life on the open seas and Venom had to forego the promise of a fresh seagull dinner snagged out of the overhead sky. Both those compromises were minor compared to the freedom the two of them shared on the beach, though. And they were together to roam this sandy world as much as they wanted.

So that's what they did. They walked this shoreline while the sun shone down hard on them on a hot summer's day and the sunlight danced and sparkled on the crest of a halfway decent chop out on the bay. The world was filled with the promise of life and with seagulls that whirled and wheeled and squawked like demented banshees over their heads. Sometimes the seagulls even waited until Eddie and Vee were out of range before they dropped their fragrant payloads. Yes, a stroll on the beach on a warm Summer's day was a wonderful experience for all concerned.

Then there were the times while Eddie and Venom huddled deep inside Eddie's heavy wool coat that shut out the searching fingers of the winter's icy winds as they trudged with purpose and determination along the storm-swept coast. For this was their shore, their coast, and they claimed it with their usual spit-in-the-eye attitude, even in the foulest weather possible. At least Eddie did. Venom was just along for the ride. But if this martyrdom was necessary, especially in the winter, then stick it out with Eddie was what Venom would do. Besides, he really didn't have much choice. And if need be, he could always bury himself deep in Eddie's innards and stay there safe and warm until Eddie came to his senses and sought out the shelter of home or of at least a crab shack where they could grab a tasty snack. Venom was always in favor of hot seafood, especially if he couldn't eat the tempting seagulls.

Or they would come out here in the summer evenings when the moon was sailing high and full over San Francisco Bay and the beach was bathed in milky moonlight. And here they would dance to the music floating out across the water and the sand from a nightclub further down the coast. It was old music and featured romantic, familiar songs out of the Thirties, Forties, and Fifties. It was music that was meant to be danced to, together. And so, they did. Venom would come out of Eddie and assume the shape of a man and hold Eddie in his arms and dance with him the way Eddie longed to be held and danced with. And Eddie would sigh and close his eyes and snuggle closely into Venom's neck and breathe deeply of Venom's exotic aroma because he was so happy. It was all so, so perfect. And all it took was for Venom to take him in his arms and sway gently over the sand together. And Eddie was contented with something as simple as that. For there was nowhere else that he wanted, or cared, to be.

It wasn’t just nights when the moon was full that they came out here, of course. Those are such few, fleeting nights, even in summer. And there were more nights when the moon was changing its shape on a nightly basis, and nights when there wasn’t a moon at all. Eddie and Venom used them all, whatever the shape of the moon or the condition of the sky, for Eddie and Venom loved them all. For it gave them the opportunity to get their arms around each other. And that was what they wanted, to be forever together in each other's arms.

“They don't write them like this anymore,” Eddie murmured as they swayed back and forth in time to the old standard song. "Just listen to the romantic words and how sweet they are."

“Sincerely," Eddie softly sang.  
"Oh, you know how I love you  
I'll do anything for you  
Please say you'll be mine."

"I will be yours," Venom assured him graciously.

"Silly boy," Eddie chided. "I know you are kidding."

"Not about that," Venom reassured him. "Never about that."

"I know," Eddie breathed, so awed his was by the enormity of Venom's devotion. Then he smiled, closed his eyes, and snuggled his head into Venom's comfortable neck. "I feel so at home."

"I noticed," Venom teased, but tipped his head downward so that he could cradle the top of Eddie's head with his cheek.

Eddie sighed. "I love doing this so much."

“You love being in my arms,” Venom corrected. “Dancing is just a socially accepted way to embrace each other in public.”

Eddie pulled back and gave him a mellow grin. “An excuse to get your arms around the pretty girl?”

“Or the good looking guy?” Venom ventured.

“Do you really think I’m good looking?” Eddie asked wistfully.

“I can truly say that I like how you look both inside and out.”

A warm grin spread over Eddie’s face. “And you’re the only one in the universe who can say that.”

"I certainly hope I am. Just as I know that you are always ready for new adventures."

“I am. And speaking of that, just where is this tree that you wanted to show me out here?” Eddie asked with his usual good nature and tolerance. He encouraged Venom to notice things in his new world, so he was not surprised when Venom had recently spoken up about wanting to study the tree further. “I assume it isn't on the beach.”

“No, it is up here with the rest of the trees in that little grove of woodland at the top of the hill," Venom explained as he drew Eddie's attention toward where they should go. "And actually it is a tree trunk that has fallen. Just head that way and I will guide you.”

“How did you even notice it if you were busy watching what was going on at the beach?” Eddie teased gently as he followed Venom's directions and climbed up the sandy slope toward the surrounding trees.

“You know how I like to watch television and google interesting topics while you are sleeping.”

Eddie smiled. That was another thing that Eddie encouraged Venom to do so he could learn about his new world. Occasionally, though, Eddie rued the results of Venom’s research. But generally Eddie learned new facts or even whole new subjects that he’d never considered before from Venom's research.

"Yeah? What about it?" Eddie encouraged with warmth in his eyes and in his heart.

“You know that there are all sorts of programs and movies on late at night that are not seen in the daytime. They are really quite educational and instructive about certain matters. Although I do not know why it is required for the females of your species to run around without clothing, especially the ones with large mammary glands.”

"Because people like to see that sort of thing."

"Couldn't the women simply glance at themselves in full-length mirrors?"

Eddie grinned. "They generally aren't the ones doing the looking."

"So films of them are shown at night as a public service for the ones who do wish to see them?"

It was all that Eddie could do to keep from laughing. But he tried to remind himself that Venom was still learning and that Eddie did not wish to dampen his interest or mock him in any way.

"Well, it's not exactly instructional. It's entertainment."

"But not considered to be entertainment for children."

"Right." Eddie smirked. “That’s because adults like to watch those kinds of things, because they couldn't appreciate their value as children. So television networks are responsible enough to show that kind of entertainment in the wee hours to protect children. I might also add, to protect naive aliens who have never been tainted by that sort of thing. But apparently that ship has already sailed,” Eddie muttered as he noted the interested gleam in the white marble eye that was looking at him intently.

“I do not know about ship schedules, but the material was quite informative.”

Eddie frowned at Venom’s seeming interest. “I’m surprised you watched that kind of thing. Generally, the ‘story’ is mostly ‘ram, bam, thank you, ma’am’ without much plot or continuity. Guys like to watch because they’ll do just about anything just to see titties and feminine bare butts. It doesn’t have to be art, just fucking.”

“Hmm. What I watched was quite riveting.”

“What did you have on? A movie channel?”

“No. The Educational Channel.”

“Really?! They seem to have gotten away from showing classical stuff like the life of Shakespeare, haven’t they?”

“Apparently. The program was on Tentacle Erotica.”

Eddie nearly tripped as he came to a dead stop. “Tentacle Erotica?! What the hell have you been watching?!”

“What haven’t I?” Venom echoed, a mixture of awe and excitement in his voice. “It is an interesting concept. Tentacle rape.”

“Depends on your perspective,” Eddie muttered. And who was on the bottom and receiving the tentacles, he added to himself.

"Yes, it does," Venom answered.

He might as well have said it aloud, since Venom knew what was in his mind anyway.

Eddie was already ahead of Venom’s logic. He knew as well as Venom did that the black goo of his body could go into any shape it wanted. Even tentacles.

Eddie felt a little thrill of excitement, but reminded himself that Venom might have something very innocent in mind that he wanted to show him. (But he doubted it.)

“Okay, before we go any further, Vee. Just where is this tree trunk that you wanted to show me? How much further in the dark do you want me to stumble around? It’s hard to see very well since we’ve come into this thicket. Sure, the moon is bright. But it just makes the shadows that much sharper.”

“Thicket sounds so crass, Eddie. Could you not call these woods something romantic as the poets did? Could you not call it a copse? Or a grove? Grove is good. That sounds so Elizabethan.”

“Elizabethan?! What in the hell do you know about Elizabethan?!”

"The Educational Channel does have programs about subjects besides Tentacle Erotica."

"I was beginning to wonder," Eddie muttered.

“It is true. Why, your Mr. Shakespeare whom you mentioned earlier lived during the Elizabethan Age, did he not?” And Venom’s voice, which Eddie guessed, was supposed to seem innocent, sounded very mocking and almost snide. “And he certainly knew his way around a grove. And a copse.”

“Okay, okay, so you made your point. Now, just where is this mysterious tree trunk you’re so taken with?! Or I’m gonna start thinking that you made it up just to get me stumbling around in this THICKET in the semidarkness!”

“Why, it is just at our feet, Eddie.” His voice was so innocent! But so mocking!

Eddie looked down. Yep. Fallen tree truck lying just in front of him in the shadows.

“I suppose you would’ve let me fallen over it,” Eddie grumbled. He had a little mocking quality to his own voice.

“I would not let us fall and hurt ourselves. There is not any fun in that.”

“Thanks,” Eddie mumbled. “Good to know.”

“Besides, that would detract away from what I want us to do.”

“I figured you had a motive other than keeping me from getting injured.”

“You are so suspicious.”

“I have a reason to be.” He held up his hand as Venom started to object. “Back to this tree trunk. Now we’re here. Now what?”

“Disrobe completely and lie face down across the fattest part of the trunk.”

“What the f---?! Why would I want to do that?! I’ll look like I’m riding a bucking bronco! And I could get my prick caught in a knothole!”

“I did not say to lie along it. I said across it.”

“Don't you mean over it?” Eddie asked as he studied the logistics of doing even that. "That trunk is about eighteen inches wide and is lying about that high up. It looks just a little higher than an exercise ball. If I get in that position, I'll look like some beached whale draped over a promontory point just out of reach of the receding tide. All that will be missing will be the drying seaweed clinging."

"You will look so pretty, Eddie," Venom sang in a lullaby that was hard to resist or refuse.

Yet Eddie did not have Venom's vision. That residual bark still clinging to the downed tree trunk would scrape the hell out of his stomach, not to mention his aforementioned prick of which he was so fond. “Won’t I look like I’m in a football huddle with my ass stuck up in the air like a sore thumb?”

“I do not know why you are comparing your posterior to an injured appendage, but I wish you so positioned so that your buttocks are the highest part of you.”

"In this milky moonlight, my white ass should show up like an opal glimmering in the jungle," Eddie decided with a barely concealed gulp.

"It will be like a beacon, that is true. I just want your naked hind end up and prominent. I long to see you in just such a position. You will be so lovely."

It might've been Eddie's imagination, but he swore that he heard Venom salivating and fighting back an accumulation of moisture and desire in his mouth. It creeped Eddie out to realize how turned on Venom was. It also excited Eddie and made him want to salivate, too. In fact, he was pretty certain that he already was. Or that could just be other juices that were beginning to flow and accumulate in him.

But Eddie just had to make a final plea for a slight change in Venom's plans. “Couldn’t I have done the same thing for you at home with a pile on pillows on my nice, comfortable bed? Why come out here and risk getting splinters all over me, not to mention picking up bugs and bird shit and questionable snot in general?”

“Oh, but, Eddie, it will be so romantic,” Venom crooned on his shoulder. “Just you and me and the night. And the possibility of unrestrained love.”

Eddie’s heart thudded in his chest. How was he ever lucky enough to get paired with a romantic alien? A romantic alien with apparently kinky ideas? “The possibility of love? Can’t you make it anymore certain than that?”

“I can guarantee it,” Venom hissed in his ear. "All I need is for you to undress for me and lie over the log. I will do the rest for us."

Eddie eagerly reached to unzip his jeans and hoped that his fingers didn't shake too much.

“Is this the way you wanted me?” Eddie asked as he tried to drape his naked bottom parts over the tree trunk in what he hoped was a fetching manner. He really wasn't at his best in this new position, seeing as how his balance was compromised and rested shakily on his two hands braced on the sand. He figured he must look like someone who'd been leapfrogging over the tree trunk and gotten frozen in action. But if Venom was happy, that was all that mattered.

Eddie had found in the few months since he’d known Venom that things went a whole lot easier and remarkably better if he tried to be enthusiastic about Venom’s ideas and went along with them willingly. And it was always better to forget that Venom could forcibly place him however he pleased, whether that was upside down, or skateboarding through heavy traffic, or snarling at nuns, or acting as a weather vane on the top of some building in downtown San Francisco. He'd go along with about anything, except the weather vane thing. Because, try as he might to correct it, Eddie was still afraid of heights. Some things don't change, even if he had a Symbiote who was reliable to catch him before he fell.

And he’d also found that it was better to be genuine in his enthusiasm for Venom’s ideas. For one thing, Venom could always tell when Eddie was merely pretending interest. For another, Eddie’s indifference or even refusal hurt Venom. Hurt Venom's feelings and his own enthusiasm and made him sad. And also made Venom very aware of what an outsider he really was.

And that was something that Eddie couldn’t stand. For it had been one of the things that had gained him empathy from Venom, too, when Venom had realized Eddie’s sadness over losing Anne. They, who had both been hurt so much by their home worlds, could take about anything except for causing sadness in the other one. They'd do just about anything to protect the other guy.

And in case Eddie and Venom didn’t know it, that was the definition of real love. Thinking of the other person before thinking of oneself is always the truest test of supposed affections.

“Well, are you gonna answer me or what?” Eddie finally demanded. “I’m starting to feel pretty silly lying here all spread out and letting the night wind whistle around my naked flanks like being an exhibitionist is my dirty little secret favorite pastime.”

“What? Oh, sorry, Eddie, I was lost in admiration of the scenery.”

He felt a quick thrill of delight go through him as he shivered in anticipation. “Scenery of… what?” Eddie asked, although he already knew what Eddie had to be studying. After all, there wasn’t much to see in this thicket (Copse? Grove?), especially since night was quickly falling all around them. “And I’m getting chilly. The night wind is rising.”

“I noticed that you were chilly. I can see the goosebumps on the backs of your thighs from the surrounding air. And just now when you shivered, I watched your anus work in and out like it was eating something." Then his voice got a wicked, knowing edge to it. "Or anticipating something.”

Damn alien! Couldn’t hide anything from him! And playing innocent! As though he doesn't know what he's doing to me!

“Why do you do that, Eddie?” Venom crooned close to his ear. “Are you wanting to learn what I have in store for us?”

“Well, as Mae West so famously said, ‘I am not prone to argue!’” Eddie snapped.

“I love it when you let your sexual frustrations take control of you. You are so eager. And I do not blame you,” he said once again close to Eddie’s ear in that damn suggestive manner that he knew Eddie couldn't resist. “I am eager, too.”

Then Eddie could feel Venom hovering all around him like a blanket of warm, misty fog. He was just scant inches away from Eddie's vibrating flesh, but not touching him. Eddie was never one to believe in the pseudo sciences, but he was more acutely aware of Venom’s presence than when he was lying snugly in his arms. It was hot as hell and was blowing all of Eddie's circuits.

“Venom. I’m warmer now,” Eddie gasped out. "It feels really nice."

“And more relaxed. Here, let me relax you more.” 

And it was as if a warm blanket settled gently around him.

“Hmm. Hmm. Feels good.” He rubbed his knees up and down and never thought once of snagging possible wood splinters.

“Here is something else to make you feel good.” Venom’s warm moist tongue ran across one shoulder to the other, then down Eddie’s spine, and down one leg, then the other.

“Hmm,” Eddie moaned as he rubbed his face on a nearby arm and realized that it had to be Venom’s as Eddie did not feel the contact on his own arm. Venom was holding him down, but Eddie had been unaware of it. That’s the advantage of having an elastic body like Venom’s, Eddie supposed.

“If you are warmer, how come your flesh is still dimpling?” Venom wanted to know. “My body is sheltering you from the chills of the wind. How come then you are still shivering?”

“I can feel your breath on my body, and that makes me realize how close your face is to my ass,” Eddie admitted as he felt another thrill of anticipation surge through him. “I know how close those sharp teeth are, teeth that could strip my unprotected flesh right off my bones with no effort on your part. And I know that long, moist tongue is just inside your mouth, a mouth that is so close that even now I can feel your lips lightly brushing my skin. And those lips! Those lips that can kiss me and drive me to utter distraction!” he sobbed against his own wrist. “I can't do a thing to help myself, but I don't care! It's all I can do to keep from begging for what's going to happen to me! I can’t wait to be violated!”

“Oh, Eddie, you are so needy for me,” Venom whispered. “And I will not disappoint. For you are mine, mine to have and mine to pleasure and mine to take care of." He huffed his breathe in and out noisily as was his strange habit of doing so at the damnedest times. "And mine to do with as I wish. And I so wish to make you mine so that there will never be any doubt about that fact ever again.”

Eddie didn’t answer. Why deny the obvious? Besides, he didn’t trust his words anymore.

Venom reached up, made claws of his hands, and raked gently, but firmly down Eddie’s back, narrowing in at the waist and flaring out dramatically at the buttocks, then swooped downward across the meaty mounds of his hips to stop just short of the cleft between Eddie’s thighs.

Eddie exhaled and adjusted to the slight stinging of those raking scratches over so much of his backside. It didn't hurt so much as smart in anger and, for some reason, itch. Itch, as if it was waiting and wanting something more, something like salt to increase the sting and the burn beneath it. And it made Eddie's asshole hot as hell for attention.

There was a pause. One of those pregnant pauses that seem to last forever and yet not long enough. For at the end of that pause, Venom's index finger gently touched the very center of Eddie's wrinkled anus.

And then just as quickly the finger was replaced with Venom's tongue, that long and juicy wet tongue that made soft little touches all around the waiting anus. First ten o'clock. Then five o'clock. Then one o'clock. Where would it stab next?

It didn't. It threw away the hands of the clock and struck dead center. But this time it wasn't done softly. The tongue landed hard.

And purposely.

And penetrated.

And shoved its way inside that alien world of heat and sensitive nerve endings.

And made its presence known with that spicy, woodsy ambrosia that would excite and quicken the libido of a dead man.

And Eddie Brock wasn't dead. Far from it. He just needed to make that fact known if case anyone was doubting it.

Eddie screamed and jerked taut. But before the scream died, Venom’s tongue pulled out of Eddie's body and left quick, moist paths along the same faint lines traced by Venom’s sharp claws. And the spicy fluid on his tongue bit at the scratches, so that Eddie was tormented by a thousand bees nipping at his fleshy hips all at once. It only added to the flames that already were burning on his abused backside.

“Holy shit!” Eddie bellowed.

Eddie’s body bucked and jerked some more, but his wrists and ankles were held firmly in place so he did not move much except in place. He just had to lie there and squirm while his overstimulated body quaked in passion and need around him.

It took a moment before Eddie calmed down, but Venom continued to hold him possessively until Eddie had managed to stop trembling.

“You’re lucky I didn’t take a dump all over you,” he muttered.

“Impossible,” Venom reassured him. “You took care of that condition early this morning. I know that you are thoroughly cleaned out now.”

“So you’ve been planning this little exercise all day, have you?”

“More or less. I knew that the time was right when those beers from last night’s drinking binge worked so completely on you and turned the contents of your colon into liquid.”

Eddie made a face. “Sounds gross!”

“Hey, it’s your colon.”

“Your playground, you mean.”

“As far as I can tell, there are no signs that say ‘Keep Out.’”

“Nah,” Eddie admitted with a self-conscious grin. “Got me there.”

“That is why I monitor the condition of your bowels so carefully.”

“Only you would keep a log of something like that,” Eddie mumbled.

“It is important to us,” Venom reassured him. “I do not like our headaches when you get constipated from not eating enough fiber.”

“Hey, now! Who’s responsible for that?! You like junk food as much as I do! And don’t try to tell me any different! You are always begging for it!”

“You are correct,” Venom agreed with a sigh. “I do like my junk food.” The slyness came back into his voice. “But I am not the only one who knows how to beg for certain things.”

“Hey! You want sex as much as I do! Sometimes, more!”

“I cannot deny it. I do like sex, especially sex with you.”

“Ditto for me.” Then Eddie remembered something. “A minute ago when I was hopping around but couldn’t get anywhere, you held my arms and legs in a spread eagle position. Now, unless you’ve got two more hands that I wasn’t aware of, how did you manage to do that?”

“They all were not all hands, Eddie. In fact, none of them were.”

“Eh?”

“Tentacles, Eddie. Tentacles. That is what I learned from watching the show on Tentacle Erotica. And now I am going to use them on you.”

“Oh. Well, as long as you do and just don’t tell me about it,” Eddie challenged with a soft grin of contentment. He knew that Venom couldn’t ignore a challenge. Likewise, Eddie knew never to challenge his Symbiote unless he was willing to withstand the consequences. 

But Venom was always good to him. Sometimes, though, it just took a little while to reach fulfillment.

Just then Eddie could feel something crawling up the inside of a parted thigh and then heading for the secret territory between his legs.

“What is that?” Eddie wanted to know. “It feels like ivy looks when you speed up the film of its growth.” He twitched his hips. "It is tickling me.

“That is a tentacle, Eddie. And it will not be tickling for long,” he promised.

“It’s so small. I thought it would be bigger.”

“I can make them in all sizes. And I will. Do not worry. You will feel all sorts of tentacles before this night is finished. And you will learn to love them all.”

Eddie gulped. And then shivered in excitement. His Symbiote was so good to him!

And then there were small tentacles everywhere twining around Eddie’s arms and legs and even some around his chest. Eddie began to panic from being so thoroughly encased in the ivy-feeling vines. Venom sensed Eddie’s concern and withheld doing anymore than just letting Eddie become accustomed to the feel of the tentacles on his extremities. When Venom considered that Eddie was acclimated enough for that size tentacle, he sent a thicker one slithering around Eddie’s waist.

It was only a moment’s panic and then Eddie felt secure with the sturdier vine instead of trapped. From then on, it was easier for Venom to wrap Eddie the way he wished.

The vine that snaked past Eddie’s earlobe and headed for his mouth made Eddie uneasy for just a moment, and then he opened his mouth and let that trailing part of Venom glide over his tongue and slip down his waiting throat.

Eddie didn’t gag the way he thought he might. Not even when a heady fluid was squirted into his throat did he fight it, but swallowed gratefully. It was spicy and woodsy and exciting, and Eddie lapped it up as small jets of it hit his tongue, also. And it also made his tongue and throat more receptive to the tentacle as it increased in size. Then it paused, as if going dormant. Eddie wondered why, but soon got his question answered.

For that was when he felt several tiny tentacles approaching his anus from several angles. He tensed as he felt them tentatively picking at the wrinkles in his anus, but not making much headway.

How long will that teasing go on, he wondered.

Then one tentacle stopped teasing and gently, but firmly eased the flesh aside and slithered quickly inside.

Eddie hissed and caught his breath as the tentacle sank further into the warm next waiting there. The same spicy, woodsy lubricant that had filled his mouth was romancing his rectum, and its journey felt good, so good.

Another tentacle poked at other wrinkled flesh across from the first site breached, and Eddie knew what was coming. That didn’t stop him from letting out an “EEEE!” when the second tentacle plunged inside, a little rougher this time, a little harder than the first one had done, a little more demanding and aggressive. But then came that spicy, woodsy lube, and Eddie began to relax and enjoy the feelings of being sated with pleasure and intoxicated while the aromatic elixir made itself thoroughly at home.

Several more of the small tentacles took their turns sinking inside him, and Eddie figured he must look like a ruptured sea urchin that was either giving birth or exploding from being pumped too full of a good thing.

Eddie could relate.

Then the tentacles began sinking further inside him while pressing resolutely against the wall of his rectum to make its diameter larger. Eddie’s mouth formed an “O” or tried to with the tentacle in his mouth still lying on his tongue and inside his throat.

“I am stretching you, Eddie,” Venom informed him close to his ear so that Eddie would be certain to hear.

“Why?” Eddie foolishly asked. He should have known better. He’d seen enough porn flicks when the sweet little virgin is skewered with a throbbing cock. The only question now should be, will it be a penis or a large tentacle that would be descending into his backside. Since he’d already had taken Venom’s penis countless time, he figured it could be a big tentacle now. But one never knew for sure what Venom would do. Venom well might not know until he started stuffing himself inside Eddie.

“Oh, Eddie, Eddie, you are so sweet and naive. Such a time to be teasing!”

Lucky for Eddie, Venom thought that Eddie was being his usual snide, slightly mocking self.

“Well, you know me. Anything for a laugh.” He caught his breath as the tentacles plunged deeper for a moment, then they slid out of him as surely as if the tide was going back out to sea. This was almost worse than an oyster on a string being pulled back up his throat. Eddie tried not to think of round worms and the time he had seen one hanging out of his dog’s rear-end. Venom probably wouldn’t care to have his tentacles compared to round worms. He was probably as proud of his tentacles as any other guy was of his dick.

“Now what?” Eddie gasped with the little breath he had left. He figured those tiny tentacles were just the warm-up show for the main event. And he wasn’t wrong.

He felt the mass positioned against his anus and wondered. Penis or giant turd tentacle? At this point, it probably didn’t make much difference.

And it didn’t. And as it slid effortlessly into him, Eddie was more than grateful that Venom had taken the time to stretch him. It filled his rectum and just sat there for a moment. Tired, Eddie guessed. He had no idea that Venom had stopped so that Eddie could catch his breath.

Good thing.

The damn thing that had been shoved so fully into him started quivering and shaking. Just like an old-fashioned wringer washing machine in the agitation cycle, Eddie thought.

And expanding.

Shit! He thought he was already as full as he could get.

Guess not.

“Ugh!” Eddie grunted. That last twist from it had hurt just a little.

“Relax, Eddie. Relax,” Venom crooned. “Let it stimulate all parts of you.”

“About as stimulated as I can get,” Eddie mumbled and was surprised that his lax lips could not stop a line of sticky drool from running out of the side of his mouth.

“Not quite yet. You can still take more.”

That was a matter of opinion, and Eddie was guessing that his opinion wasn't the one counting at the present moment.

The tentacle seemed to bunch itself together, then it forcefully struck out in apparently a previously determined direction. And hit Eddie’s prostate dead on. And throbbed. And burrowed.

Eddie’s back arched as his head shot up. He screamed out as if someone had yanked on his penis instead of doing something so wonderful to please him. 

The tentacle bunched itself up into a hard ball and ground into Eddie’s prostate with a vengeance. Eddie screamed and screamed until he was hoarse. Cords stood out on his neck and his eyes bulged. The tentacle down his throat writhed and did not know where to go for its own safety. Perhaps it feared that Eddie would bite down on it hard and injure it as much as Eddie did. Through all the red blaze of passion that kept washing over and over him, that was one thing that Eddie remembered: He must not injure Venom in his zeal.

Finally the tentacle retracted away from Eddie’s prostate, and Eddie collapsed. The tentacle down his throat used that opportunity to slip out of Eddie’s mouth. Eddie hated to see it go, but knew it could be invited back when Eddie’s sensibilities had cooled a little.

“Bull’s eye, I believe the expression is. The target has been hit,” Venom informed him with satisfaction.

“Many more of those hits, and the bull will lose more than an eye,” Eddie panted as he tried to collect himself. “That’s good stuff, but I can get over-stimulated.”

“We cannot have that,” Venom decided. “We will proceed cautiously.”

“Not too cautiously. I like an adventure, too.”

“You are being very picky this evening, Eddie,” Venom complained with his huff that sounded like he was short of breath. “But I will try to comply as well as give you the adventure that you requested.”

“That wasn’t it? Seems like that was the equivalent of riding a luge blindfolded or dating three people at the same time. You know, make an already crazy situation even more dangerous.”

“I do not know if I can accomplish the other thing I wish to do. It will take a lot of trust from you and a lot of skill from me. I do not know if I possess the necessary tools.”

Eddie turned his head toward the white marble eyes watching him closely. “I believe in you, Vee. I believe that you can do anything that you set out to do. And as for the other thing, I trust you to the moon and back. I trust that you will be good to me.”

"Remember that when we are in the middle of our adventure, please."

"What? You are being pessimistic? But Venom isn't pessimistic. Not super stud Venom! Eddie Brock is. But never Venom," Eddie teased gently. "That's why we make such a good team. We complement each other. And complete each other."

"I have never had anyone who believed in me as much as you do, Eddie. That leaves me with a terrible responsibility."

"But I know that you can do anything you set your mind to," Eddie continued softly, and his eyes were carrying the softness he was feeling and changing it to downright loving.

“Well, the best way I can see to do this is to engage in sexual congress. So, if you do not mind, I will breech you in earnest with something more than my tongue.”

Eddie grinned as he readied himself. “Mind? Hell, my fondest wish is to die with your cock rammed up my ass. So what does that tell you about my consent now?”

“That you have low expectations. And simple dreams.”

“All in the way you look at it,” he said happily as he felt Venom messing with his private parts. “I surely haven’t shrunk up much, but take as long as you want to-- Oof! Never saw that coming! But certainly felt it!”

“You said you were ready,” Venom reminded him in a chiding voice.

“There’s ready and then there’s ready. Oof! We seem to have our timing off a little.”

“There is nothing wrong with my timing, Eddie. Alright, I will warn you when I am thrusting next. Is it okay for now?”

“Bring it on. Eeeh!” he hissed as Venom’s wad slid further inside him. “That smarts some!”

“I’m beginning to think it is not a problem with timing. You feel as dry as the Sahara Desert in your love canal. No wonder my movements are irritating you. I will shoot more of the lubricant up inside you.”

“Oh, yeah! That’s good!" Eddie agreed as he felt immediate relief. "Just like a spice trail to the Glory Land!”

“Just do not get lost in that metaphor, Eddie, and we will be alright.”

“Tell you what? How about if I just let myself go and meet you on the other side? And we'll find our own paths to getting there.”

“Other side… of what?” Venom asked carefully.

“The other side of love making, silly," Eddie teased. "Not the Other Side of this Mortal Veil.”

“Good!” Venom said with relief. “You had me worried.”

“And you had me worried. You sounded so serious when you talked about what you wanted to try.”

“Hmm,” Venom said thoughtfully. “Maybe we well might end up on the Other Side of this Mortal Veil before this night is finished.”

“Vee! What the hell are you gonna do?! Or attempt to do?! Maybe you just better slip me some more cock until I see the stars exploding all around me, and then we’ll go home like respectable people would do and continue this session in our own bed.”

“Oh, Eddie, we can do that anytime, but now I want more. I want more for you,” Venom answered close to Eddie’s ear. "I want more with you. And it will be so good if you only trust me long enough to try." His deep voice shook with barely contained passion.

Eddie shivered. Damn if that alien couldn’t turn him on just with words. And that obvious excitement in his voice only added fuel to the already burning flames licking around Eddie. But Eddie knew that Venom could more than deliver anything he promised. So now Eddie was waiting, full well knowing that he would not be disappointed with whatever was going to happen to him next.

Venom had lain himself carefully over Eddie’s back so that he had Eddie in a cocoon of protection. Then he slid his arms under Eddie’s and brought them up on Eddie’s chest as if he had fashioned a harness with Eddie safely inside it. 

“Love you holding me so firmly. I enjoy being this close to you,” Eddie murmured as he closed his eyes and smiled in contentment.

“Just keep on doing that, Eddie,” Venom suggested. “Keep on relaxing and trusting in me.”

So Eddie did.

As it was, they had become one with Venom’s arms and tentacles and penis riveting Eddie close to the protection of his sheltering body. And Eddie felt so warm and safe and precious. Just plain precious. He could have stayed this way forever, and probably amended the stipulations of how he wanted to die. Because this, this, this was so much better than mere rutting!

“We are one with the universe, Eddie,” Venom murmured. “Just close your eyes now and ride with the flow of the universe.”

“Yeah,” Eddie agreed in a relaxed, slurred voice as he closed his eyes and gave in completely to Venom’s gentle suggestions.

“We can be in any part of the universe because we are part of it.”

“Sounds right to me.” More happy slurring.

Eddie felt a tugging up on the underpart of his body and felt tentacles circling his chest and stomach, but paid it little attention since he was protected by Venom so much. Whatever Venom did was alright.

“I love being so close to you,” Eddie slurred happily. “It feels so good, being in your arms like this.” He grinned to himself and knew that Venom could hear the warmth in his voice even if he couldn’t see Eddie’s smile. “This may well be the fuck to last throughout eternity.”

“Well, maybe not that long. But it will last a good, long time, that is true.”

“How come I can’t feel the roughness of the log under me any longer? I just realized that it isn’t scraping me anymore. Instead, I just feel free.” He frowned. “And chilled. Has the wind come up in our thicket? It seems to be howling. No. Not howling. Whistling. How come the wind is whistling, Vee?”

“Eddie, do you trust me?”

Eddie gave him a relaxed grin. “As I said, to the moon and back.”

“Then open your eyes. But do it very slowly and remember to trust in me.”

“Anything you say, big guy,” Eddie said with warm feeling surging through him. As if he would be afraid of anything as long as he was with Venom!

Eddie opened his eyes a crack and was surprised to see that they were no longer surrounded by the trees in their thicket. In fact, they didn’t seem to be surrounded by anything except darkening sky. Then he chanced to glance down and discovered the very disconcerting reason of why he could see nothing but darkening sky.

Because that was the only thing surrounding them! In any direction! Except for straight down!

And that was a darkening beach on one side and a darkening ocean on the other.

Then Eddie reached the only logical conclusion he could under the data he had quickly gathered.

They were flying!

He didn’t know how, but they were flying!

They were about fifty feet in the air and flying as if they had always traveled that way!

Eddie jerked in spite of himself and tensed. He sure as hell didn't want to fall. Landing on that water would probably hurt as much as landing on the beach. People would have to hunt like hell to find enough of him to bury. And with no ID on him, his tattered body would spend eternity in a nameless grave. Such an inglorious end to Mrs. Brock's darling baby boy!

“Relax, Eddie,” Venom crooned. “Do not tense. And do not go into the fetal position. You must stay stretched out with your arms reaching for Heaven. Otherwise, you will become a human cannonball and even I will not be able to save you as you hurtle back toward the ground. And we will both reach Heaven sooner than either of us wishes.”

Of course, going into the fetal position was the first thing that Eddie wanted to do after Venom mentioned it. It would be so comforting and so logical to do so. But Venom said he shouldn't. So Eddie fought his natural inclinations and stayed poised as if he was trying for the world’s record in doing the swan dive and got frozen in mid-air.

Which he was now. Literally.

Eddie screwed his eyes shut. He was going to die!

"You are not going to die, Eddie!"

"Coulda fooled me," pessimistic Eddie muttered.

"Just relax. I got us. Believe that, Eddie. Believe!"

Outside of feeling like a foolhardy Peter Pan, Eddie tried to do what he had been told. He opened his eyes. Better. Not great. But better.

“Good. Now look down.”

“I don’t like heights.”

“That is why I said that you would have to trust me. Do not worry. I have us.”

Eddie cautiously looked down at the darkening landscape on one side and the last rays of the sunset marking the end of the Earth for them at the moment on the other side.

And he had a strange reaction, one he never figured he would have.

“It’s beautiful! I’ve never seen anything so beautiful!” he declared with a catch in his voice.

“That is what I wanted you to see.”

“Thanks. But how, how are you even be able to do this?”

“You know that I can leap and climb?”

“How far up did you leap before I opened my eyes?! Are we on some giant arc?! Will we crash any second now?!”

“I reached this altitude and went no higher. And now I am gliding. I did not know if I could, but I can. With your belief in me, I can do this thing for us.”

"This is great and all, but how are you on landing?"

"We will learn that when I attempt it."

"Attempt it?! Isn't that something that really has some sort of ending to it? Doesn't it? We can't stay up here forever. We gotta land sometime. Not just attempt it. It's not like you've discovered perpetual motion.... Or have you?" Eddie asked anxiously with a whole lot of hope mixed in for just such a miracle to have taken place. After all, maybe an alien could give the world perpetual motion when no Earthling had ever been able to do just that.

"Do not worry, Eddie. Just enjoy the view."

"Well, you know that's just me," Eddie mumbled. "I tend to fret."

"And in the meanwhile, you are missing all of the good things here for you to enjoy. Have peace within yourself and admire your world. It really is an amazing place."

"It is at that," Eddie had to agree.

"It is here for us, Eddie, as I am here for you. Build your world around that promise and everything will be fine."

"You're right." And now that he trusted completely, he could feel peace flowing through him.

"That is good, Eddie. I feel that you have accepted what is here for you. Now, look. Look down on your world and be one with it."

Eddie obeyed and was thrilled to realize that what Venom had told him was all true. “It really is beautiful,” he decided now since he was no longer afraid. “It’s so special.”

“You are special,” Venom crooned. “Because of that, I can do anything. Now, relax and enjoy the ride. Soon we will return around and return to our grove to retrieve your clothing. Until then, we will enjoy the encroaching night and being together.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Eddie decided and settled in to enjoy heights for the first time that he could remember.

Meanwhile, out on the Bay, the crew of a Coast Guard cutter was thunderstruck by what they had just spotted.

“What the hell is that in the sky?!”

“Looks like a giant bat, sir.” He took another look through his binoculars. “No, wait. It’s a flying man with a black mass on top of him and all kinds of thick bands around him.”

“How in the hell can you tell it’s a man from this distance, Hotchkiss?!”

Hotchkiss lowered the glasses he'd been using. “I spotted his dingly-dangly hanging loose and free, and he’s really ready for action-- if you know what I mean. He’s plowing a path in the sky in more than one way. His old thing is locked and loaded and looks like it could stare a hurricane down.”

“I’m glad you’re finding this so humorous. Meanwhile, let’s get over there and look them over better.”

“What the hell is that?!” Eddie demanded. “Someone’s shooting a beam of light toward us! They’ll see us soon!”

“The Coast Guard,” Venom muttered. “And I cannot get us out of harm’s way quickly enough before we are seen.”

“If we head inland--”

“And appear over the city? A city romanticizing over the beauty of a California sunset?”

“Oh, hell,” Eddie muttered. “Busted. We’ll never be able to talk our way out of this one.”

“You. You will never be able to talk your way out. I cannot be seen. I will disappear back inside you again.”

“Thanks, kemo sahbee.”

“What?”

“Never mind. They’ll think I’m crazy. But there still is the fact that I’m flying. They can hardly look over something like that. In the meanwhile, we have to do something. That ship and its beam is getting closer.”

At that moment there was a sound of beating wings all around them, and in the next moment they discovered that they were completely surrounded by a thick flock of seagulls.

“What the hell?! Venom! Seagulls! All around us! Seagulls!” he shouted with glee. “The seagulls are hiding us! They are saving us!”

It was a night of miracles. First, he and Venom went flying. And now the seagulls were protecting them.

“They are good friends,” Venom agreed. “I will not consider eating them again. Even if they do look tasty, I will never eat seagulls. At least not these. They are our friends.”

A nearby seagull looked straight at Venom as if it had understood him. It squawked its approval in a teasing manner, as if they were buddies or something. And Eddie will always swear that then the damn bird actually winked at them!

The birds even helped Venom with his flying by buoying him up with air currents, and in a moment they were out of sight of the Coast Guard cutter. Then the birds headed their charges toward the thicket (Copse? Grove?) to get Eddie back into his clothes, and that was how their evening and excellent adventure ended out on the beach.

But the guys out on the Coast Guard cutter were puzzled and indignant.

“What the hell, Hotchkiss?! Where did they go?! They couldn’t just disappear like that!”

“I lost track of the guy and the mass over him when all of those seagulls surrounded them like that. I ain’t never seen anything like that, sir. I didn’t know that seagulls flew at night. Is that really true?”

“That’s what you took away from this?! Seagulls flying at night?! Not a tumescent guy up there with them?! Just those fucking seagulls?!”

“Well, it is highly unusual, sir,” Hotchkiss answered, trying hard to keep a grin off his face and a twinkle out of his eyes.

“Tell you what, Hotchkiss,” his superior grumbled. “Officially, we saw a weather balloon."

Hotchkiss frowned. "Sir?"

"No seagulls. No naked guy with a hard on. Got it? Just a weather balloon.”

“But, sir--”

“I always wondered how come so many weather balloons get reported. Now I know why. It will be easier all the way around. On the brass. On the government. And certainly on us.”

“But--”

“Weather balloon, or you go on report. For an eye exam. And desk duty. On a remote island. A barren island that has foul weather year round. As for me, I saw a weather balloon. With dangling parts. Nothing more. Is all of that sufficiently understood?”

“Aye, aye, sir!” Hotchkiss snapped out as he stiffened and saluted smartly. “Weather balloon, it is. Sir! Probably a lot of them go astray on a regular basis around here. Sir!”

“Oh, shove it,” his boss muttered as he turned away. “Or else the damn seagulls will have to come back and pull you out of the ocean.”

Hotchkiss made sure that his toothy grin was not seen. But the half-light of gathering dusk glinted off his white teeth as nicely as it had off the whiteness of birds that do not fly at night.

Unless they have a good reason to fly. And they apparently had had that reason that night.

“Just think of it, Eddie,” Venom said as they lay in tangled sheets later and gazed up at the moon sailing through the skies far above them. They were sated with their lovemaking and now just wanted to rest with the reassurances that the other one was still near.

“What’s that, Vee?” Eddie lisped as he fought off a deep and relaxing weariness. He did not want to miss anything that Venom was going to say, but he was really tired and needing to sleep. Flying will do that to a guy. So will hours of making vigorous love.

“What you did this evening was so unique. Other men have run with the bulls at Pamplona and other men have swum with dolphins out in the ocean. But you, you have flown with the seagulls in the sky. What other man can possibly state that?”

Eddie grinned. “I was just along for the ride. Remember? But it was great. Out there. With them. And with you. Being free and being evasive. They saved us. They intended doing that. They really are our friends.”

“I suppose that means that we are truly part of the flock now,” Venom moaned as if it was a terrible trial for him to admit.

“Looks like it,” Eddie agreed. How strange life is, he decided. Here he thought that Venom would save the seagulls, and they had wound up saving him and Eddie.

“We will have to take them extra treats tomorrow,” Venom decided.

“I think that would be something nice to do, Vee. Really nice.”

"But not chocolate," Venom amended. "It might not be good for them."

"Probably not," Eddie agreed as he hid the smile of fondness on his face.

And through it all, the seagulls watched. And waited for their friends to return. The man and the strange creature with him that can change into so many interesting shapes would return again with treats.

The seagulls have seen it all out here on this beach. And just in case they haven't, they will be watching and waiting for when it does occur.

For seagulls are very patient. And remarkably loyal. Just ask Eddie Brock, although no one would probably believe the wild tale he would tell about how the seagulls rescued him once and flew with him in the night sky.

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing of the Marvel Universe, nor of Venom (2018 movie).


End file.
